Police say Colo. bomb that hurt 2 was in paper bag

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (AP) — A bomb that seriously injured a Colorado couple was left beside their car in a paper bag with their names written on it, and the woman's ex-husband is a person of interest in the case, police said Sunday.

Allyson Stone, 44, and her current husband, 59-year-old Christopher Stone, were hospitalized with burns after the explosion Saturday in Lafayette.

The couple found the bag as they were preparing to drive to Boulder, and they put it in the car with them, police said. Christopher Stone told investigators it exploded as his wife began to open it when they had driven about a block.

About 20 homes were evacuated as police investigated. Residents were allowed to return about eight hours later when no other explosives were found.

Lafayette Police Cmdr. Gene McCausey said Sunday that Allyson Stone's former husband, 55-year-old Michael Anthony Brittain, is considered a person of interest in the case.

McCausey said police and FBI agents searched Brittain's home in the Denver suburb of Thornton on Saturday night. However, Brittain is not in custody and has not been charged. A phone listing for Brittain could not immediately be found.

Neighbors told KMGH-TV that Brittain is a nice person and they couldn't imagine him being involved in the attack.

Brittain and Allyson Stone have had friction in the past, the station reported.

Court records show Brittain was charged in a domestic violence case involving his wife and children in August 2003. However, the Boulder County district attorney dismissed three of the charges in February 2004, and Brittain was found not guilty on a remaining assault charge in January 2004, according to a state court summary.

Allyson filed for divorce three days after Brittain's arrest in the case. In February 2011, the judge in the divorce case issued a judgment saying Allyson Stone owed $121,520 to Brittain, court records said.

Court documents also show that in March 2007, a 63-year-old Boulder County woman was granted a permanent restraining order against Brittain. It's unclear why she obtained the order.

Allyson Stone has been in the news in the past. She received death threats in 2010 after a dog bit her and the case went to court, The Denver Post reported. The dog could have been put to death under vicious-animal statutes but was spared. Authorities have said they don't believe the explosion was related to that incident but hadn't ruled it out.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also was assisting in the investigation.